Bad news - Good news

We had some interesting news about St. Jude chapel today. The bad news is that of mid-May, the Dominicans will no longer be running the chapel. This is sad becuase I've gotten to know a few of the Dominican priests and they're such a great group of men. Unfortunately, their regional headquarters is in New Orleans and has been struggling to recover from Katrina, and the priory and the region is just very short staffed.

The good news is that the Bishop has decided that the chapel will become a Diocean priest-run chapel. It will keep the same mass and confession schedule that it currently has. That makes me terribly happy for so many reasons. First, I really love St. Jude's on so many different levels. I love that it's convenient, I love that it's small. I hope that with the staff changes, I can find ways to serve the church and get involved as a volunteer. I really wanted the Chapel to be my church "home", but feared that with the changes that it might not have weekend services or might be shut down completely.

They've finally anounced a replacement for Fr. C there, and I'm very thankful for that. Ever since Fr. C left, attendance has been steadily dropping. I truly believe that with a strong leader and a permanent replacement for Fr. Ce that people will start coming again in the strong numbers.

I know that there are people that are going to have their feathers ruffled by the fact that the Dominicans are leaving, but I hope and seriously pray that people will work to build the unity and strength of the Parish now instead of being petty and snotty about every little thing. St. Jude is too small to weather much contention.